"Democratic leaders, even as they condemn the president’s Iraq strategy, have vowed not to cut financing for the troops already in Iraq. But pressure is increasing inside the party for more scrutiny on war spending when the administration’s military budget request is considered by Congress next month.

For a time on Wednesday, an unusual scene played out on the House floor, with some Republicans coming forward one by one to speak against the Iraq policy while fellow party members argued against them.

“We need to tell all these defense contractors that the time for this Iraqi gravy train, with their obscene profits, is over,” said Mr. Duncan, the congressman from Tennessee. “It is certainly no criticism of our troops to say that this was a very unnecessary war. This war went against every conservative position I have ever known.”

Representative Ric Keller, a Florida Republican who said he was simply passing along common-sense advice from his constituents, compared the Iraqi government to an ungrateful next-door neighbor.

“Imagine your next-door neighbor refuses to mow his lawn and the weeds are all the way up to his waist, so you decide you’re going to mow his lawn for him every single week,” Mr. Keller said. “The neighbor never says thank you, he hates you and sometimes he takes out a gun and shoots you. Under these circumstances, do you keep mowing his lawn for ever?

“Do you send even more of your family members over to mow his lawn?” he added. “Or do you say to that neighbor, you better step it up and mow your own lawn or there’s going to be serious consequences for you.” (source)

...And, as a tiny little hint that Dems may be on the wrong side of history, terror leaders are once again offering them political advice:

"Zawahiri delivers the attack in a 40-minute audio tape released overnight on Internet sites, and relayed to ABC News by an American terror analyst, Laura Mansfield.

On the tape, Zawahiri also condemns American Democrats "as one side of the same coin of tyranny, criminality and failure" for failing to challenge Bush policies as they said they would in the election.

The tape, apparently aimed at an American audience, contains English subtitles and a warning that American civilians are responsible for Bush policies because they "chose Bush twice." (source)